雙語詩歌翻譯|曹雪芹-《五美吟·西施》

《五美吟·西施》出自清代小說家曹雪芹所著小說《紅樓夢》，是一首七言絕句，在小說中由林黛玉所作。前兩句直寫西施的不幸，后兩句寫西施和一般女子一樣，紅顏多薄命。這首詩是林黛玉以西施自況，發(fā)出了預感命運不幸的悲嘆，悲哀自已紅顏薄命。這首詩引用了東施效顰之典，化用王維《西施詠》和《洛陽女兒行》詩意，增強了全詩的悲嘆基調。

《紅樓夢》·《五美吟·西施》

一代傾城逐浪花，吳宮空自憶兒家。

效顰莫笑東村女，頭白溪邊尚浣紗。

Xi Shi（David Hawkes 譯）

That kingdom-quelling beauty dissolved like the flower of foam.

In the foreign palace, Xi Shi, did you yearn for your old home?

Who laughs at your ugly neighbor with her frown-and-simper now,

Still steeping her yam at the brook-side, and the hair snow-white on her brow?

His-shih（B. S. Bonsall 譯）

In one generation she overthrew a city, pursued extravagance.

When the palace of Wu was empty she bethought herself of her home.

As she imitates the wrinkles laugh not at the woman of the eastern village.

White-headed by the side of the mountain stream she still washes silk.

Xi Shi（楊憲益、戴乃迭 譯）

Gone with the foam the beauty who felled cities,

Her longing for home in Wu's palace an empty dream,

Laugh not at the East Village girl who aped her ways,

White-haired, she still washed clothes beside the stream.